Driveway Sealed October 2012

Before - Some Major Cracks and perhaps never sealed driveway

After with sealed driveway to prevent future cracking...

Backyard Fence

Holy Moly. 
Wanted to stain the new cedar fence in backyard before it started to grey.
Same stain color as lattice in front of house.

It's a two sided fence.
I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but it took me 4 hours or more, to stain only one side of only an 8ft section!!!!!!!  There is WAY more to go and my arm will surely be sore tomorrow!

I need a crew to help or this job is never getting done.

The wood looks more finished though. 

 
....Weeks later an UPDATE.......

I was able to finish OUR side only.  Still need to stain the NEIGHBORs side....But now the weather is cold and rainy.  Hopefully, we will get a good few more days of weather and I can finish this project for good!!  Maybe before the 2012 year is out....

I am very happy with the way our side turned out.  The lattice in the front of the house now matches this cedar fence color and the slight red in the stain kind of picks up the red brick from the new patio and looks pretty great together.  :)

Finally Picked a Downstairs Bathroom Color

Finally picked a downstairs bathroom wall color.
Dutch Tile Blue.
First room inside the house, I painted myself. 
Still need to fix some problem areas along the ceiling, but looks pretty good.

See Downstairs Bathroom Come Together

So you saw the before pics of the downstairs bathroom in a previous post. 
Finally, some during pics of the tile going up and other parts of the bathroom coming together.

Here you can see the old linoleum that was under the floor, after we ripped up some of the wooden boards. 

Some of the carrera marble wall tiles setting.

 

Basketweave floor in place.

 

Toilet and sink being set....

 

Bathroom almost complete with an exception of all the woodwork that needs to come off from around the window and doors.  Needs stripped of all white paint and stained and put back into place.

 

 

Flush ceiling mounted light.

 





Garage Window Painting

Another Do It Myself Painting Project

 

BEFORE - Yellow Plastic Window Door Frame on Garage. 

Not matching, but clashing Blue Garage Painted Window.  Ugh...

 

AFTER - Matching Green Door and Window Frames..... 

Sunday Gardening Day with Pop

Today was a back yard gardening day with Pop! All day .... 10-5!!!!
16 bags of mulch ..... 2 crape myrtle bushes and 1 Chicago Lustre Viburnum later......
I'm pooped!

It was so nice having some help back there today!  And the use of Dad's Roto-tiller!
I mean, I don't think I could have ever accomplished what we did today, by myself in 2 months!

I was painstakingly hour after hour trying to shovel up the grass to create my garden beds. 
With his Roto-tiller, that work was done within 1.5 hours, if that!!!!
THANKS DAD!


This is the BEFORE PIC where old mulch bed did not extend the length of the new fence ....

 So here, we extended the bed! And had to replant a couple of President Canna.

Dad hard at work with the Roto-tiller

This was the BEFORE PIC of back right corner of yard.  Weeds and no cut out beds.  Just dirt. And grass. And did I say weeds?

This is the AFTER PIC.  A mulched bed with 2 crape myrtles.  Will have to plant more in fall.

We've come a long way with the backyard.  XOXOXO

BRICK PATIO JOB COMPLETE plus fence

BEFORE PIC - A very NOT private backyard with ditchy grass. 

I had to stare at my neighbors trash cans for one full year. 

 AFTER PIC - A more private, more use-able back yard space.
2 sides of the patio are lined in boxwoods.  Planted Astilbes against house. 
Just need to re-work mulch beds in front of fence and of course plant so the fence is not so shocking.
Once the grass grows under the hay, it's gonna look super.
I am so thrilled with the outcome of this project.  YAY!

BRICK PATIO

August 13th 2012

Today was Day 1 of adding the brick patio to the backyard. 
This backyard will one day be my sanctuary....
Where children can play and mommy can enjoy her coffee, mosquito free....
We can get a grill.  Roast marshmallows.  Watch birds.  Listen to the owl that lives very near.......
I can watch the seasonal blooms (whenever things get planted!) :)

Adding a brick patio is a major deal. 
Many men descended upon the backyard.  Heavy duty machinery still sits in driveway. 
A Bobcat removed all the old cement. 
There was slight complication in making the ground not exactly level but set in such a way where water will not sit on top of brick. 
After the grass was removed, the land was prepared.  Measured one hundred times for perfection. 
Crushed concrete added and flattened, then remeasured.  Then Stone dust added and set and tramped. 
Then the brick begins to be laid.
The walkway is runningbond.  The patio is basketweave. 

I feel like this outdoor space is really a terrific addition to the house.
Should be a major value add to this house.

BEFORE PICS:

Can't wait to see how Day 2 turns out! Should be all finished by tomorrow evening.

AUGUST 14th 2012

Day 2 - Cement in place. Sanded brushed in between bricks.  Dirt laid around patio to resculpt ground, making slight incline and filling ditchy land 1-3 ft into the rest of yard.  They still need to mulch and grass seed.



Downstairs Bathroom Getting Major Overhaul

The downstairs bathroom, so said my mother-in-law, was "Skeevy!"
Skeevy and outdated and it didnt look original at all.
I've been looking very forward to updating this bathroom. 

Currently, the downstairs bathroom opens up into the kitchen.  We are changing this. 
We are closing off the bathroom doorway to kitchen, putting up drywall....
And cutting a doorway out of the wall close the back door so that it doesn't open directly up into kitchen facing livingroom, but rather faces the side of the house in back with the window positioning the same. 
We are removing the shower out of the bathroom and making just an elegant powder room.
Marble basket weave tile with small black pieces for floor/with a black border, small marble subway tiles for the walls, white pedastool sink, white toilet, chandelier......
Just have to see it all come together!  Time will tell, but it should be timeless and classic.

BEFORE PICS

DURING PICS

This is a pic into the old bathroom with the dry wall WALL already in place.
This doorway will be completely ripped out much later when we renovate the kitchen at some point

New hole cut in wall for new doorway

This project to be continued! Should be complete by August 25th.